Skip to main content

We All Scream for Our Screens

I don't have a recipe for you this week, sorry! :( I've stayed really busy with school and other big projects going, so I have not had a chance to photo-record any new recipes for you. Instead, I have a thought provoking type post for you. I have copied a blog post written by Paul Asay from the pluggedin.focusonthefamily blog site. The original article is just below, and then there will be a short summary of my thoughts on the subject. Hope you enjoy!
0628BlogTop

            Last week I ruminated on the joys of unplugging for a bit. But truth is, it didn’t take me long to reconnect.

            Granted, my job is a little different than most, where being (ahem) plugged in is part of the gig. I’m one of the few people who vows—in the context of a performance review—to watch more television. Still, it’s a little shocking how much time I spend with my screens. I’ve got several demanding my attention constantly, it seems, and I might spend more time staring at them than I do looking at, you know, real people.
            But if I’m overdoing it on screen time, I’ve got a lot of company. According to a shiny new study by Nielsen, adults in the United States are spending an average of 10 hours, 39 minutes consuming media every day—a full hour more than we spent on media last year. That’s not time spent answering e-mails at work, by the way: It’s watching television shows, streaming movies, playing video games and all manner of other electronic entertainment diversions.
            No wonder we complain that we never have any time. Our screens take so much of it. The biggest media time-suck is still live television, Nielsen says, even though we’re cutting back on the boob tube a little. On average, Americans spend about 4 hours and 31 minutes watching TV every day, compared to four hours, 34 minutes in 2015.
            So why, if TV viewing has actually dropped a bit, is our media time up? Blame our smartphones and tablets. We’re streaming about 60% more on our phones this year compared to last, and 63% more on our tablet computers. Indeed, those two devices alone account for 49 minutes of that extra hour. As a culture, we’re cutting back on traditional media sources a little … but we’re engaging with new media outlets a lot.

            “We are moving ever closer to the world of Wall-E,” Relevant magazinedeclares. And admittedly, those numbers are pretty staggering. But is Nielsen’s study truly a sign that we’re overly dependent on screens for our entertainment these days? More importantly, how much time do you spend with media? Do these figures sound grossly exaggerated or just about right?

That's it for the article by Paul Asay. It is a little overwhelming how much we use technology now. I personally have two "screens," a Moto G phone and a Fire tablet. However, since I do not have phone capability on either, I like to think that perhaps I am not quite so zoned out of the real world as some people. Although, I have been known to lie on my bed watching Netflix for hours at a time on weekends. So, I do think there is truth to what Mr. Asay said. I think that maybe we should try to pay a little more attention to just how much we use our phones, or tablets, or laptops, etc. and not forget that we have a real family, and not just a virtual one.

Comments

  1. Technology is a wonderful thing, when used correctly. Unfortunately, it's been my experience that smart phones in particular have become distractions to building and maintaining real relationships. They are an addiction just like any other addiction. Breaking that addiction can be difficult, but it will result in a positive outcome.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Great Red Dragon of Revelation 12

Sorry this post is a little late! I wanted this project to be done last Sunday, but I kept noticing details that could be added to make it a little better. This post might seem a little random, but it helped me to practice the drawing skills and techniques that I know. This includes: drawing dragon heads, adding small details to half-finished ideas, and adding shading. The idea for this design came from my Mom, when she saw me drawing dragon head designs and challenged me to draw the seven-headed dragon from Revelation 12:3 "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads." My initial idea looked like this: Click to enlarge. I realized that this wouldn't work, for my drawing skills at least, so I changed the design to this: Click to enlarge. I wanted a large center head that captured attention, so I worked on that next: Click to enlarge. Click to enlarge. F...

With Apologies to Robert Frost

I have a class for school called Speech. This is supposed to help me learn how to stand properly while speaking, pronounce words properly, and so on. The most recent section is on how to give meaning and feeling to a  poem when reading one out loud. My teacher, Mrs. Autrey, has been reciting poems to us as examples, and she uses a variety such as happy poems, sad poems, thoughtful and so on. One of them that caught my attention was a funny remake of the famous poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.   The original is one of my favorite poems, and I have always loved the other poetic works of Robert Frost. Here is the original poem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening By Robert Frost   Whose woods these are I think I know.    His house is in the village though;    He will not see me stopping here    To watch his woods fill up with sn...

CBP Prohibited and Restricted Items

Recently we went to a Back to School festival near to us. At the event, they had a car show, snacks, booths for school children to get supplies , and also booths from the local police and border protection agencies. One of the booths, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, had a variety of unique items on display, including gem-covered beetles, vials of weevils in food products, leather from a sea turtle and elephant, and a bird claw. The officer on the right talked about all the items on display. Click to enlarge. What do all these items have in common? Well, we learned from one of the officers at the booth that these were all illegal items to try to bring over the border. Lets start with the gem-covered beetle. This is not the beetle the officer had on display, but simply an example. While this may look like a harmless product, it is actually quite cruel. That is because the beetle is captured while still alive and has the jewels pasted to its back before being put on sa...